Category: Stu’s Reviews

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: John D. MacDonald

Title: A Bullet for Cinderella

Review: I have the serial reader syndrome. I order what I think is the next book in one of my series obsessions, from the library, only to get it home and find I have read that one already….ugghh….this has happened several times recently (senior momentitas?)…and recently left me heading out on the road with nothing to read. When this happens, I turn to my pile of ancient John D. paperbacks I liberated a few years ago from a Mexican Airbnb (shame ON me)….and the result is a few days with one of the absolute master storytellers of our times. Macdonald is most famous for the 70 or so he wrote in the Travis McGee series….but the man was utterly prolific, penning somewhere over 300 novels in his time . “Cinderella” is one of his “stand alones”…..and in my book, thus guy does stand alone. Dark, smoky, out of the ay places….with drifters trying to find some sense of meaning in their life against the odds. This one was written in 1955,an feels fresh and relevant today. Evil, lust, greed and the machinations of envy never go away. Warning- if you start, you may not put it down until you finish…..go to your local use bookstore, flea market, library used book sale…or on line…and grab some John D….you won’t be sorry.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Jon Talton

Title: Arizona Dreams

Review: There is something to be said about writers who are really attached to the place they write about. Talton is an umpteenth generation Phoenician and knows everything there is to know about the desert oasis…and clearly a love – hate relationship. This is the seventh installment in his David Mapstone series (can you say serial reader obsession?)…and it a good one. As long as his protagonist/antagonist, Mike Peraltha is in the story….it’s good bet for adventure. Talton is good writer by any standard, though maybe a bit predictable. Desert reading in the Midwest winter is a bonus….

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Paul Doiron

Title: Trespasser

Review: This is the 2nd in Doiron’s Maine Game Warden, Mike Bowditch series. I really like the “down east” Maine setting of these novels…remote backwoodsy and the general affinity for the region. These books are a bit of a one off on CJ Box’s Joe Pickett Wyoming game warden series….but bot nearly as compelling. One major difference is that if find the main character (Bowditch) to be hard to like. He seems to make every bad decision possible and is not very charismatic. That said, the stories are good and some of the supporting characters are pretty interesting..…though a little less than believable how much trouble and remote Maine Game Warden can get into… worth a shot…but I’d go with the Box books.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: John D. Macdonald

Title: The Beach Girls

Review: Ok-…I mow, the title…is…well… a bit cheesy and reeking of soft porn implications….but…this is John D. after all, and it is 1959….Whenever I run out of library books , like right now in transitioning from Vermont back to Ohio, I have a reserve of John D. paperbacks. Usually these are of the infamous Travis McGee series, but I had one in my stash that was a standalone. Titillating and ridiculous title aside, Macdonald is the real deal…the master of his genre- never has been another like him. So….. if you like tough old mysteries, a bit on the noir side, set in pre-boom south Florida and filed with ruminations on the human and social condition,…his books can’t be beat. MacDonald is the Hemingway of mystery types.

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Martin Walker

Title: A Taste for Vengeance

Review: BRAVO, Bruno……the 14th in Walkers’ Bruno series does not disappoint. Bruno, the Chief of Police in the small French country village of St. Denis (in the Dordogne) , with his trusty steed (Hector), his sidekick canine (Balzac) and his cast of assorted village friends and characters….solves crimes, protects virtue and cooks extraordinary French cuisine in his 16th century farmhouse. You get to know matters of international intrigue, local French customs, exquisite recipes for Canard Maigret and the location of the best wine “caves” in southwestern France. These books should be declared a national treasure.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Steve Hamilton

Title: Stolen Season

Review: Hamilton is the absolute bomb when it comes to murder mysteries set in remoter and eccentric places. This is the sixth in thus series featuring retired cop and minor league baseball great , Alex McKnight…who is a classic book noir type of hero harking back to the strong silent types of yesteryear. Nothing shockingly original in these archetypes, but the story lines carry a wallop (and are often surprising enough to really catch you off guard), there are a series of wonderful regular characters, and Hamilton is a damn good writer…..for any genre. Doesn’t hurt that the Michigan UP and the “ Soo” (look it up) are fascinating habitats to explore. Would be a great winter night read.

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Linda Castillo

Title: Among the Wicked

Review: this is the umpteenth entry in the wonderful Kate Burkholder series set in Amish Ohio. Chief Burkholder is now in a hot and steamy relationship with the damaged by charming agent Tomasetti from the Ohio BCI (figure it out)…and gets into more trouble than one could imagine happening in an Amish community. The ends seem a bit predictable to me, but the writing is really good, the evildoers unforgettable and Burkholder is a restrained hottie. I read this book in two days flat, so it…moves. This is not life changing literature……but want a quick satisfying, voyeuristic read…..go for the Chief.

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Paul Auster

Title: The Locked Room

Review: Been on a Paul Auster kick for last six months….great, great writer. As I’ve said before, his books are beyond dark, and this one does not drift away from that supposition. This is the third and last of his New York trilogy- preceded by The City of Glass and Ghosts-all published in the mid-80s. These are high quality endeavors- but somewhat difficult books to read. Very, very heady, with little action. Most of it takes place inside his head…which is quite full of very dark thoughts an images. All three books are a variation on one central character-the mysterious Fanshawe-who seems to represent some lost part of Auster himself. They are somewhat mystery-oriented in genre, but that would be over simplifying the case…they are pilgrimages of a man’s quest for illumination and resolving lost causes. If you get that, you might like these books…not certain that I get it…or that I really like them. Still, great literature is great literature…like it or not.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Steve Hamilton

Title: Ice Run

Review: You’ve probably had enough of these reviews of the same book series…but I can’t help being a serial reader…kind of a compulsion. This is the sixth in Hamilton’s Alex McKnight series …and does not disappoint. As usual, we have McKnight in the frozen tundra of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in the dead of Lake Superior winter, when adventure beckons him into remote provincial Canada. It’s a barn burner , full of twists and odd characters….all centered around his obvious love, and fabulous description, of life in that part of the world. Hamilton is a shockingly good writer, and his books go by in a mad dash. I’ll be bummed when there are no more left in this series to read.

Genre: Book

Grade: B

Notable People: Jon Talton

Title: Dry Heat

Review: This it the fourth one (in order) that I’ve read in the David Mapstone series about history Shamus turned unwilling detective in the Phoenix heat. Good story and love the characters. I usually appreciate an authors’ devotion to place/setting and Talton, a fifth generation Arizonian, clearly is devoted to Phoenix and the desert…but I thought this one went obsessively overboard in his musings about location, it’s history and its decline from a wonderfully quirky small city in the desert to a Midwestern escape mecca..…essentially ruined by the developers and the snowbirds. I basically agree, but could do without being schooled on this every other page. The story is catchy, though, and the writing and dialog are top notch.